


bad guy

by rain_at_dawn



Series: stars, scattered [11]
Category: SHINee
Genre: Angst, Band Fic, Jealousy, M/M, Surprise Kissing, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22508227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rain_at_dawn/pseuds/rain_at_dawn
Summary: But we can talk all night, get into another fightTell me all our lies, didn't mean to make me cryWhat a way to react
Relationships: Choi Minho/Kim Kibum | Key, Kim Kibum | Key/Original Male Character(s)
Series: stars, scattered [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608877
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30





	bad guy

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [caught fire in your eyes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20122966) by [rain_at_dawn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rain_at_dawn/pseuds/rain_at_dawn). 



> prompted by @cxsmichild on Twitter
> 
> song inspo - bad guy by hatchie
> 
> a/n: i wrote this as prequel to my longer fic 'caught fire in your eyes', but it can be read as a standalone as well ^^

It’s not such a bad day when Kibum receives that text. _Dinner at eight on Sunday,_ _hope you like Italian_ , smiley face emoji. And then a heart.

If anything, it’s a major step up from that hole-in-the-wall jjajangmyeon place after practice. But of course, moving on to an up-and-coming model from disheveled idol colleagues and back-up dancers is always a step forward in the right direction. Kibum allows the smile to seep over his face, coloring his exhaustion after the gym.

“Are you even gonna _try_ and listen to what I’m saying?” Minho frowns from where Kibum peers at him over his screen.

Kibum vaguely recollects how he came to be lying on a mat that’s sticky with his sweat, with his legs bent at the knees and Minho holding his feet in place. It’s because Jonghyun couldn’t make it tonight and Minho had been whining about the lack of a work-out partner. Kibum wonders why he hadn’t let him down nicely in the first place.

“Guess who’s got a hot date…” He waves the phone in front of Minho’s face, testing him for a reaction. “Remember? That model from Fendi’s spring campaign – ”

“Guess who’s falling short of their sit-up count?”

“Must you always do this?” Kibum files Minho’s scowl away for future reference, if he ever needs a reminder about how them being a thing just wasn’t on the cards. “How much have I done?”

“64.”

“Round it up then.”

He sits up and pulls his feet away, back to his phone. _It’s a date_ , heart emoji, press ‘send’.

“You’ve been weird ever since you started hanging out with him.”

Kibum rolls his eyes at this statement. Minho needs to get out more, hit more clubs instead of weights. Put that body he’s so invested in to better use.

“Don’t call me ‘weird’, when all the action you’ve seen is with a joystick in your hand. At least I have plans for tomorrow.”

There’s a stormy silence that brews between him and Minho; it has been for a while, when they’re not squabbling over clean-up duty in the dorm, mistakes in choreo, time allotted in the studio. Something seems to be eating at Minho. Kibum wouldn’t be pushing at him, if he hadn’t pushed first. If there’s fault to be found, it’s usually – no, always – in the way Minho goes about things.

How simple it would have been to just let things slide for a change. Kibum would let Minho come to that conclusion by himself.

* * *

Minho’s still stewing on that bench in the locker-room when Kibum walks in from the showers and the sight is enough to churn up an uneasy mix of annoyance, guilt and pity inside him, even as he sets about changing into clean clothes. He doesn’t know if Minho truly understands this – drunk on his own bad mood as he’s been in the past few weeks – but he’d better begin to.

“Hey!” Kibum snaps his fingers right in front of Minho’s face. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing you’d care about.”

That’s a good one. Kibum would like to think he’s above it all, but there’s something in the downward droop of Minho’s lips that sets him off.

“Is it because I zoned out during sit-ups? Is that it?”

He gets a glare out of Minho, which is marginally better than him looking like a wet towel. “Seriously, Minho, I was happy I had a date! Is that what you’re holding against me?”

Without warning, Minho springs up, stretched to his full height, startling him. On reflex, Kibum puts a hand up to the other’s chest, but doesn’t dare to press further. He’s seen Minho angry and agitated enough times to tell that this is different. This doesn’t feel like something that’ll burn up and blow away in the next breath.

“What is it?” He asks, and his voice doesn’t feel like his own, as it’s drawn up from a place that he’s fought to keep hidden.

Minho’s shoulders slump.

“You just don’t get it, Kibum.”

“Get what? What’s bothering you? You’ve been like this ever since I started seeing him.”

Kibum’s last few words fall flat around them. Minho keeps looking at him, blinking in disbelief, and bit by bit, it creeps up on Kibum, winding its way up from his curled toes to the ice settling in the pit of his stomach.

His hand’s still there, lying on Minho’s chest. He’s supposed to move it away, but it moves up instead, to clutch the side of Minho’s face. He looks up and Minho looks down, not breaking the line of sight as they move in.

Minho’s kiss tastes like sweat and Gatorade and the chapstick Kibum had bought him and like he’s wanted this for ages. Kibum allows their tongues to meet briefly, then chases that intimacy when there’s signs of hesitation. His hand curls into the material of Minho’s singlet. He pushes, seeking an answer to a question he’d hoped to never ask.

They stumble backwards, with Minho’s head hitting the wall behind them. The kiss breaks with a grunt and Kibum comes to his senses, to the soothing white lights in the locker-room, to the powder blue walls, to the solid grey floor beneath them, to his phone vibrating in his pocket:

_Can’t wait to see you_ , heart emoji.

Kibum shoves himself off Minho, cursing at each tear that threatens to spill. He picks up his bag and storms out of the room, keeping time as Minho’s voice calling his name begins to fade behind him, already past history.

He finds his way to his car, unlocks it, then sits inside to wait for Minho to collect himself and return to the passenger seat. Ten minutes pass. Fifteen. Twenty. Half an hour.

Minho’s name lights up his Kakao ID screen.

_‘staying back’_

_‘coming home with changmin hyung’_

_‘don’t wait’_

There’s a lump in Kibum’s throat which he knows he can only swallow with the help of the text from his future date. He types out a response to the last message from him, beneath the _can’t wait to see you_ :

_Looking forward to it_ , heart emoji.


End file.
